I take this opportunity to offer my sincere condolences to the family and friends of the jockey Pat Smullen. His death has brought deep sadness to the horse-racing community and, indeed, far beyond that.

As we all know, Pat fought his own battle with pancreatic cancer but he also raised more than €2.5 million for treatment and research into that disease. It is fair to say that Ireland has lost a champion both on and off the racecourse. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Yesterday was billed as the day to bring clarity and forward planning. Instead what we got was chaos, confusion and very considerable anxiety for people. I am glad the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, tested negative for Covid-19. I am also glad that he got that result within a matter of hours. It has to be said that experience does not tally with people more widely across society. I make that point because 24-hour turnaround of results has to become the universal standard for everyone in society.

Last April, the Taoiseach's colleagues in government, Deputies Leo Varadkar and Simon Harris, told us that we would reach 100,000 tests per week. The Taoiseach will know that the Covid committee made a recommendation on the advice of experts that 24-hour turnaround for results would be achieved and observed. Months later, neither of those two important commitments have been met. Disappointingly, the Government's very lengthy plan announced yesterday was very sketchy in respect of testing and tracing. It provides no concrete targets or delivery plans in this area. I emphasise "this area" to amplify the basic public health advice, which is that to deal with this crisis, to get ahead of this virus, to flatten the curve and to keep it flattened we must test, trace and isolate. That is what the World Health Organization tells us and it is correct. In that spirit, when will we get to 100,000 tests per day? What is the target beyond that because 100,000 will not be sufficient? As I said, the all-party committee recommended 24-hour turnaround for results. When will we reach that target? Can the Taoiseach clarify those matters for the Dáil this morning because we need to get this basic central element right.

I am glad that we are back in the Dáil following yesterday's shambles. The public was left with a real sense of unease seeing the Cabinet being unable to work and the Dáil suspended. People have lost confidence in the Government's handling of this emergency, not least here in Dublin, where it has left people hanging in a very cruel limbo. It is not just that people are confused, they are beside themselves. There are people whose businesses are hanging by a thread, people whose jobs are in the balance and people who want to have social contact with friends and family. There is no clarity yet as to whether people can come and go from this city. The message from the press conference was that people should not move outside of Dublin. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, said the opposite and then the Taoiseach was unclear last evening on RTÉ. This morning, again, we had two senior Ministers, Deputies O'Donohoe and Michael McGrath, contradicting each other within a matter of hours. It is an absolute mess. The Taoiseach needs to be straight with the people of Dublin. He needs to tell them what exactly we are facing. We need that clarity and certainty now. Can the Taoiseach provide that clarity? What are the current restrictions and will we be facing further restrictions when NPHET meets or when the new committee meets? Will the Taoiseach commit, as I have asked, to ramping up seriously, in a concrete way, our testing and tracing capabilities?

I express my deepest sympathies to Pat Smullen's wife, Frances, and his family. He was an iconic figure in the racing world who is deeply mourned by his family and friends. I salute his absolute courage and commitment to cancer care and in taking on what was the greatest challenge in his life.

Just because Deputy McDonald says things does not mean they are true. The Deputy has a habit of deliberately distorting and undermining genuine and significant efforts in regard to dealing with Covid-19 and in her own commentary and contribution tends to evade the hard questions as well, particularly in regard to Dublin. I look forward to the Deputy's support next week in terms of whatever advice comes from NPHET. I would appreciate that support as the Government may implement that particular advice.

On testing, today the HSE has surpassed the 1 million test mark in this country. Last week, there was a 70% increase in community testing requests from general practitioners, GPs. The system has managed to deal and cope with that. Obviously the return of our schools has created additional pressures, as is the case all over Europe. Interestingly, the positivity rate for children tested between 0 to 14 is less than 1%. There is a daily capacity of 15,000 for community and acute hospitals. The HSE will say that this is more crucial than the 100,000 weekly figure. Some 11,000 is for community tests where spikes are identified and the remainder is for capacity in our acute hospitals. It is quite significant in terms of what has been achieved to date. This week, thus far, there have been further increases in testing requests but there is more swabbing capacity in place and testing sites ready to deal with it. On average, there will be 10,000 community swabs per day alongside 3,000 in hospitals. In terms of serial testing, 12,000 tests are expected from nursing homes, 4,000 from meat plants and 3,000 from direct provision. This week, the HSE will reach its highest ever number of swabs taken and tests processed and this will continue to improve. Let us acknowledge the significant ramping up of the testing system. There is road to go yet. The system was set up mid-flight as the pandemic took hold.

Deputy McDonald made the statement that the plan is sketchy. The plan is not sketchy. It is very specific in terms of creating a dedicated workforce for testing in the country. The Deputy would know that if she read the plan. A 3,000 strong workforce is to be employed. That is provided for in the plan. That specific figure is in it. Currently, the HSE is recruiting 700 people to take swabs and 500 contact tracing staff. Those are specific figures that are in the plan. The Deputy knows that yet she chooses deliberately to distort and seek to mislead in regard to it. The plan provides for 30 test centres, a minimum of one test centre per county, six pop-up fleets, a number of dedicated contact tracing centres and the response to clusters as they emerge. The situation on testing is comprehensive. There is a clear plan to expand and ramp up testing further.

On the overall plan, it is a good plan in terms of the five levels. Ireland is one of the first EU member states to come up with a comprehensive plan of this kind. On Dublin, the advice presented to us by NPHET has been adopted by Government and made public. NPHET, as I said yesterday, may come forward with further advice in that regard on Thursday.